Dove Direct Print and Marketing Blog, “Print Interconnectivity Explodes with IoT”

Welcome to the Dove Direct Print and Marketing Blog. Today's post, "Print Interconnectivity Explodes with IoT," is an update regarding the rapidly growing Internet of Things (IoT). Most importantly, digital print technology and the use of QR codes embedded into printing "things" or "objects" is well within the realm of the IoT. While most of the focus on IoT has been about the way objects are interconnected to various digital platforms, today, we update the implications of IoT's growth as a data communications informational game changer.

For starters, IoT is now the ultimate universal connector for everyday devices from mobile to appliances, including some automotive releases. IHS Markit states that as of 2015, 15.4 billion devices were connected. They forecast that number will increase to 30.7 billion by 2020, and 75.4 billion by 2025. Moreover, IoT's technological expansion and reach may turn just about everything into a communication device.

By definition, the IoT is an idea where a computing concept can convert physical objects into connected things with the ability to identify themselves to other devices via the internet. RFID is currently the primary method of communication; however, other communication types such as sensor technologies, wireless technologies, and QR codes are part of the IoT mix.

If we are looking at the communication derivatives of the IoT from a satellite view, literally everything on the planet can communicate with and through each other. Keep in mind that this technological footprint exponentially recreates and expands big data.

Ambient Intelligence

With all the frenzy about artificial intelligence and machine learning, thanks to the IoT, another intelligence player is rising to the inclusive digital intelligence lineup; introducing, ambient intelligence, the cleanup hitter.

Let's put this ambient intelligence into perspective. The significance of IoT's ability to allow an object to represent itself digitally raises the object or thing to be greater than itself. As a result, objects surpass limitations relating only to its users and now can connect to surrounding objects and database data. When this occurs, you can redefine multiple objects that act in unison as possessing "ambient intelligence."

Data Created By Things

Things or objects are the breakthroughs when it comes to how one can create data. Before the IoT, humans were the primary creators of data. Conversely, in the IoT sphere, things or objects are the data creators. We're not necessarily alluding to rocks, trees and street pavements themselves collecting data, as they too are objects, but moreover, the IoT provides the capability to allow any object that can be the recipient of communication code variances to join the data collection fray.

The IoT is a stretch for many who try to render an exact definition of what the IoT is or isn't. To that point, several groups have presented various IoT definitions. Many credit Kevin Ashton with the initial IoT definition and usage of IoT, whom most consider is an expert in digital innovation. That said, every description shares a prevailing ideology that states; "While the initial version of the internet focuses on people creating data, the IoT version takes a huge leap into the future whereby things are creating the data." Ashton stated in 1999 that an article in the RFID Journal quoted it best.

"If we had computers that knew everything there was to know about things — using data they gathered without any help from us — we would be able to track and count everything, and greatly reduce waste, loss, and cost. We would know when things needed replacing, repairing, or recalling, and whether they were fresh or past their best."

The RFID Journal goes on to state, "And that's a big deal. We're physical, and so is our environment. Our economy, society, and survival aren't based on ideas or information — they're based on things. You can't eat bits, burn them to stay warm, or put them in your gas tank. Ideas and information are important, but things matter much more. Today's information technology is so dependent on data originated by people that our computers know more about ideas than things."

The IoT, Print and QR Codes

Print collateral has long embraced the use of QR codes. That's not to suggest that print is the single object using QR codes. QR codes in and of themselves are often not understood when it comes to their ability to deliver the IoT. In a nutshell, QR codes are machine-readable two-dimensional barcodes that furnish consumers with product information.

Dissimilar from regular barcodes, technological advancement indicates that QR codes can deliver much more information than a price tag and sell-by date. Scanning a QR code via smartphones provides users with the ability to directly open a website page, unleashing more product and company information. As well, QR codes can point to different apps that link folks to websites or even assist people to locate lost items.

Depending on how the QR codes are programmed, printed collateral can become an object that communicates with other IoT objects. We can think of QR codes as the object that can bring end users as well as businesses together via "data" that is void of being driven by people.

Brands that build products can now use QR codes within objects such as cameras, television set-top boxes, or any other manufactured device. Those same brands can also invest in print collateral that employs QR codes that takes the user to whatever point in the IoT chain, the brand's strategy requires. Print collateral that includes QR codes raises the value from a marketing perspective, in that it can overcome digital's crowded waters by getting targeted consumers to respond in the digital space.

The Net-Net

Printers should be very excited by the emergence of the IoT. Discovering how to use the many iterations the IoT brings to the table is well worth the effort, mainly since QR codes are one of the essential communication avenues the IoT uses. Thanks for reading, "Print Interconnectivity Explodes with IoT."

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